Thoughts on Bills/Redskins

So Week 8 is in the books, a week away from the official halfway point of the NFL season and the Bills are 5-2 and sitting pretty in a tie atop the AFC East. Clearly the Bills are one of the surprise teams of the season, if not the surprise team. The Bills had their annual home away from home game in Toronto on Sunday and for the first time in the four year venture came out on top by a score of 23-0. Here are some thoughts on the game:

Let’s start with Marcell Dareus. The man is a beast, plain and simple. You can tell at this early stage in his career that he is going to be one of the best. Not many guys can say that they can single handedly take over a game in only their 7th game as a pro. Dareus did just that yesterday. Even if it was against an inferior opponent in the Redskins Dareus was flat out dominant. 4 tackles, 2.5 sacks and constant pressure on the pocket all game. If the Bills get more of this the defense will be one of the better ones in the league by the end of the year.

Speaking of the defense and their 9 sacks, give credit where credit is due – the Bills cornerbacks finally played a complete game and it showed up front. Florence, McGee, and McKelvin are all above average cover men and their performances should show more than they have for the first 6 games. A little pressure goes a long way but at the same time it’s hard to make a hot read with a guy like Dareus bearing down on you when the corners don’t let receivers get a clean break off of the line. This unit is crucial to the success of the Bills in the second half of the season.

The Redskins run game was stopped cold thanks to a smothering defense, again led by Dareus. It will be interesting to see if that carries over to the Jets game. The Jets once vaunted run offense has been disappointing thus far this season and the Bills will be smelling blood after their dominant performance this week.

There is not much more that you can say about Fred Jackson that hasn’t already been said. The guy is a bona-fide MVP candidate. He may be the most complete back in the NFL right now. That’s saying something for a guy who just turned 30 prior to the season. He’s got 721 rushing yards and 353 receiving yards through 7 games, giving him a whooping 1,084 yards from scrimmage through the first 7.

The newly minted man Ryan Fitzpatrick showed a bit of rust early but brushed it off to to finish with a good day overall. He was an efficient 21 for 27 for 262 yards, 2 TD, and INT and the team’s first lost fumble of the season. He didn’t have to do too much and overcame some bad turnovers early.

People have been heaping praise on top of the Bills offensive line all year and yesterday’s game was a prime example of why. They were missing both of their left tackles, Demetrius Bell and Chris Hairston. They asked Andy Levitre, who has been a Pro-Bowl caliber player at left guard to kick out to left tackle and inserted back-up swing guard Chad Rinehart into the left guard position. The unit didn’t miss a beat. The Redskins recorded only two sacks, both in the 4th quarter when Fitzpatrick just held onto the ball rather than risk a bad pass. This unit has been, and continues to be outstanding despite the malignation that is suffered in the preseason.

Nobody ever tell George Wilson that he isn’t one hell of a football player

Rian Lindell has become so automatic that you are shocked when he misses, so much so that there is not a doubt in your mind that he is going to hit the next one.

Again, kudos to Chan Gailey for being the exception to the rule once again and getting his team ready to play after the bye. Teams are only 8-10 coming off of the bye this year.

Finally we must talk about a bit of karmic justice. Two years ago, prior to the 2010 season, the Bills were at a breaking point. They had not been to the playoffs in 10 seasons at that point and had just run through a cavalcade of colossal disappointments at the quarterback and head coaching positions. Owner Ralph Wilson had seemed to have had enough and showed an interest to opening up his wallet to a big name coach to come in and oversee the operation. The team first turned to Mike Shanahan, who had been fired by the Broncos the year prior after a long and fruitful run in Denver. Shanahan took an interview and then casually brushed the Bills off, waiting for Daniel Snyder to offer him the moon to come to Washington, where guys love to go when they want to get paid. The Bills had to settle for an also-ran, Chan Gailey. Well on Sunday that also-ran and his team handed Mike Shanahan the first shutout of his long and illustrious coaching career. If that’s not a sign that the football gods are on their side, I don’t know what is.

It’s a big week ahead, the biggest game of the year to date takes place this Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium when the Jets come to town to take on the Bills. This one will tell us a lot about where we will go from here.